Mark Sanford reflects after returning to US House

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (AP) - It's been 20 years since Mark Sanford made his first campaign for public office, winning South Carolina's 1st District congressional seat.

Now, after serving three terms in Congress and two as governor, and weathering a widely publicized fall from political grace from an extramarital affair, he is once again back in the U.S. House.

Sanford won a special election last year. He tells The Associated Press that his focus in recent months has been getting his office up and running. He says he's changed in that he works harder to understand other political positions.

One thing, he says, that hasn't changed is the challenge of overspending and reducing the deficit. And, he says, there seems to be less attention on that than there was when he first left Congress back in 2000.

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